Lions Notebook: SJ, we hardly knew ya.

Lions Notebook is a new feature here on 3DownNation, where from time to time we will bring you up to date on Lions news and some good stuff from CFL social media. If you would like your tweets to possibly appear here use the hashtag #LionsNB.

SJ Haidara, we hardly knew ya.

The Lions announced Tuesday that they had traded national receiver SJ Haidara to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for their 5th round pick (43rd overall) in this year’s draft. The Lions also hold the 41st pick in that round and have eight picks in the seven round draft.

Haidara is a player you wanted to see more of. He showed flashes of promise in a limited role during his rookie season, but last year was surpassed by Kito Poblah on the roster, relegating him to mainly special teams work. Poblah didn’t have outstanding numbers (15 catches, 182 yards, 1 TD) and it would have been nice to see SJ get more of a chance to grow as a player and see more of his skill set.

It will be interesting to see what Wally Buono has in mind for the pick. Whether he chooses to keep it and harvest as much as he can from the draft, or perhaps use it as an attempt to move up to get the player he really wants.

The Lions announced that their June 19th preseason game versus Edmonton will be held at UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium. The club is hoping they can expand the 3500 seat venue to between 8,000 and 10,000 by including standing room tickets.

The event is being co-hosted by the Lions and UBC who are entering their first season with renowned CIS coach Blake Nill at the helm, as well as former Penn State QB Michael O’Connor.

BC Lions season ticket holders will have first dibs on tickets for the event, but obviously not all of them will be able to attend. Because of that the Lions have provided a nice package, including free tickets to one of three regular season games and BC Place food credits. There will be no extra cost for the preseason game ticket. Standing room tickets will be priced around $25.00 for the event.

Quarterback Terrelle Pryor was released by the Kansas City Chiefs and his CFL rights belong to the Lions. Pryor may be running out of stops in the NFL, so it will be interesting to see how that situation develops. With the Lions already undergoing auditions for the eventual successor to Travis Lulay, Pryor would be an interesting name to add to the mix, if only for his name.

CFL Social

It was a great lanch for 3DownNation.com with kudos coming from all over Twitter on our first day, including this one from one my favourite pawdcast guests to date:

A couple of groups are showing their dedication by organizing fan bus trips for road games. The REDBLACKS Booster club has sold out their bus trip to Montreal, while Section O in Edmonton have put together a trip to Fort McMurray:

$70 Same day return shuttle ftmacfanbus@hotmail.com book for RSVP! leaves Edm 11am returns to Edm after the game https://t.co/ywwYbIVXGT